by Pam Kueber on April 30, 2008
Just a sweet and simple 40s “American” kitchen today. In my recent survey, readers asked for 
more from the 40s. This photo is a great example: Sweet, clear colors that are very much of the era…the cabinets, still simple and white… And as we’ve discussed before, notice the not-all-that-subtle use of patriotic red-white-blue color scheme. In this case accented by clean yellow and green.
A very cheerful crayola kitchen for a country emerging from hard times. As the copy says:
For a good start to happiness, start your plans now.
by pam kueber on March 27, 2008
Vintage advertising from Kohler is usually quite wonderful. These Wisconsin folks sure understood how to capture a time and a place and a mood in a … simple and truly engaging way. Look closely at this illustration, and you see they aren’t really selling much – just a tub, and a sink. But it was 1949, remember, and these things meant so much more — they were the fruits of freedom after the war, and after an even longer stretch of economic deprivation that stretched before that, all the way to 1929. A sink, a tub – a happy little boy in striped pj’s and fuzzy slippers. We can make fun, all we want, of the seemingly unfettered materialism of the postwar 40s and 50s. But consumers, during this time, were celebrating some well-deserved and long-time-coming … simple pleasures.
You know, I think this is also the underlying reason that I have trouble dumping on all the colonial revival stuff from this era… or 70s Mediterranean, etc. The women who chose these things did so with such great love (and probably with much greater care than most today, in our disposable economy). It’s…mean…to mock them. I’d rather celebrate all the heart that they put into making their homes nice. Isn’t that what we all try to do? Sentimental diatribe over. It’s all good.
Check out this other Kohler photo. I’ll find and post them all, over time…
by pam kueber on March 21, 2008
This kitchen is so so wonderful. It’s from 1946. Check out how it’s red, white and blue – but not in a screaming way. In fact, I adore this shade of blue, and the cabinets ‘read’ a creamy white that’s so inviting. Also notice, the steel cabinets paired with the wood-paneled built-in and back wall. Like, the new mixed with the old. Just like it was, in 1946. If you have built-in’s like this, consider painting the inside to accent your collectibles. Dreamy.
by pam kueber on February 23, 2008
more from the 40s. This photo is a great example: Sweet, clear colors that are very much of the era…the cabinets, still simple and white… And as we’ve discussed before, notice the not-all-that-subtle use of patriotic red-white-blue color scheme. In this case accented by clean yellow and green.
